I did this figure drawing a couple of years back but have always liked it. Those were the blissful days of figure drawing 4 times a week. Now I am just trying to keep my head above water when it comes to figure drawings, though I've been a little more optimistic lately.
I digital painting based on an 19th century photograph I came across. It was a sepia photo so I had to make up the colors which is difficult for skin tones.
I was in the great city New York recently and had time to sit and draw at the MET. Of course I went directly to my favorite statue: "Ugolino and his sons" by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux. So for about 2 hours I sat in a conspicuous corner and tried to best my last try at this subject.
A charcoal drawing out of my sketchbook. Even though I use the same type of hard charcoal as my figure drawings I have a lot more control in my sketchbook (it seems). It is Conte which is hard difficult to use because it doesn't erase easily. But I have been able to get good tight flowing lines by using the side of the stick, see the hair.
This is my take on a poet.
My latest, oil on board 18"x24". Based on a previous painting, this one has much a stronger drawing(I only realized right now as I look back at the post). I like the nontraditional composition, slightly graphic. It sits against the wall in my studio for a month or two now and I still like it, whenever I don't hate it after a couple of hours that is a good thing. My wife still has issues with it and I plan on some light changes but it's basically there.
This is a Nicolai Fechin (1881-1951) copy done in charcoal about a year ago. There are some proportion problems but I am pleased with the linework and the drawing as a whole, especially when looked at independent of it's source.
A painting I found in a dark hallway of a rich Bavarian castle. Actually I just painted it and added the frame digitally. I want to print out one of these digital paintings on canvas and frame it nicely some day, some day.
I am going green!(but only in the background of certain paintings)
So only Ken was kind enough to feign interest in my previous post so here is a figure drawing that may or may not draw more attention.
I just returned from the east coast, seeing a lot of great art that is much more accessible then out here in the west. I found a couple beautiful Norman Rockwell paintings, it's sad that its still rare to find these treasures done by the golden age illustrators. I visited a couple of modern art galleries where collectively the work didn't equal a single good Rockwell in my eyes.
A new digital painting I really like. I painted it with the dull green background and kept all of his values very muted then thought of the blood in the background idea, which I think works extremely well to punch it with the contrast. Sometimes my digital paintings are done on the fly, on a whim, this one was a little more planned out and I think that helped. Also, initially I wanted a solid graphic shape for the hair similar to Sebastian's Tim Burton painting that was so effective. But once I got into it I couldn't stop, I really enjoy painting hair.
This is a newer painting. A lot of glare is showing up in this picture but you get the idea. I wanted a warm face to contrast with a very cool background. I also was trying to get a loose style in the background to compliment the more finished face.
A new painting done from an old concept that I could never get the colors that I wanted. I did the drawing a few months back and tried 2-3 times to paint it up but kept getting stuck with bad colors. I've decided it may have come subconsciously from the Godfather part II, doesn't it look like Hyman Roth? Remember that whole scene cutting the cake in Cuba?
Monday was a holiday, I spent 7 blissful hours painting. Here is a mostly finished new painting. One thing I was trying for was more of a vibrant pink shirt which I was unable to accomplish with the paints colors that I use. I use just the main colors red, blue, white, etc. then mix the colors that I want, but it is very hard to get some colors, vibrant pink is one of them(greens are hard too). One thing that was interesting was really pushing the bright reflected red under her chin.
I have had a renewed vigor for oil painting recently. This is the painted version of this drawing of our beautiful little neighbor girl. I mentioned that I wanted to get the more spontanious style of my drawing into my paintings. You'll notice that more time was put into the face, especially around the eyes, then quicker work in the less important surrounding area. I really like to take 2-3 overlays in the white areas so it will really glow with the reflecting light when lit correctly(or sunlight). Done in oil on 11"x14" masonite board.
This is a Painter painting. I don't have much more to say. Ryan Wood gave me all kinds of good advice on finishing the thing, and it worked.
I've been thinking about how I am often more happy with my quick drawings than I am with my much more time consuming oil paintings. Mainly it's the many years of practice in my sketchbook that has allowed more freedom and confidence in my linework, I am trying to get more of that into my paintings. So I did this drawing to transfer into a painting in the hopes that it will help me with a loose painting that I am happy with.
A new paiting, I am trying to get a few good caricatures together. Ussually I try to use strong colors against a muted background to emphasize the subject, but in this case I tried to reverse that with a muted character on a vibrant background, reverse the contrast.
Campaign season again.
A drawing of Shimon Peres, I did it for Bryan Larsen's guest sketchbook, Bryan's a great artist check out his portfolio or the blog. Bryan's blog has a closer look at the drawing, but for this one I wanted to use an old composition style. Maybe you've seen old portrait drawings that are small and centered on a large paper allowing a lot of empty space to frame the drawing. Pencil on paper, the old paper texture was also added afterwords for interest.
